The Dog House
by Got Well Soon
Summary: A short pricefield drama in two parts, while Max and Chloe are in college. Without intending to, they both break promises to each other. Part 2 of Skate AU.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note:_ _While this story is compatible with saved-Chloe canon, I really wrote it as a follow-up to my earlier AU story Skate._

* * *

College. Chloe had transferred into Max's university for her sophomore year, so they could stick together. "This is actual education, not just a jail for teenagers," she'd said, and her grades were quite a bit better than they'd been in high school. They rented a small studio apartment near campus, decorated it mostly with Chloe's picks from Max's photos, her taste running to the grittier end of the portfolio. It was cramped, but life was good with a place of their own. Max sat at the desk, typing.

"Coming to the party?" Chloe asked.

"Nah, I've really gotta finish this paper."

"Dude it's Saturday night! Finish it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow I've got a shoot, and I want to have time to cook us something nice for dinner."

"Alright, can't say no to that."

Max knew how this would go. When they went to parties together, they hung out with their friends, had a couple drinks, danced a bit, headed home at a reasonable hour. When Chloe went alone, she came home later and considerably more intoxicated. "I missed you Max!" she'd say, climbing into bed, kissing Max happily, and crashing hard as soon as her head hit the pillow. Max smiled at the thought, then got back to work.

On her way out the door, Chloe bent over Max and kissed her neck. "Love you, Doctor Caulfield. Don't work too hard."

"Love you too Chloe. Have fun."

"You know I will!"

* * *

Midnight. Max rubbed her eyes, read through her work once more. This was good enough. She didn't feel like going to bed yet though, and the party was only a few blocks away. _Might as well go collect my girlfriend,_ she thought. She texted Chloe, put on a jacket, and headed over.

The party was in a big house, was very crowded, very loud, dimly lit, and smelled of spilled beer. Max threaded her way from room to room through the crowd. Most people here were already pretty far gone, and she didn't feel like trying to catch up. She just wanted to find Chloe. She pushed into a room and saw a familiar shock of blue hair at the far end. _Finally_. She squirmed between packed bodies and then she saw more. Chloe was up against the far wall. There was a girl, tall with long brown hair, very close to her. Kissing her. Chloe's right hand was on the girl's hip. _No._ She stared a moment. Chloe's left hand moved to the strange girl's other hip. Max felt sick to her stomach. _What the hell is this? She said she wouldn't do this. Who is that girl? Why would she do this?_

She stepped backward into the crowd. Stood stunned a moment, then opened her camera bag, pulled out her instant camera. Leaned through bodies again, aimed, pressed the trigger, and retreated as soon as the flash went off. She fled the scene, walking fast back to the apartment, tears running freely down her face. On the way, she sent a text.

"Hey, Emily, I know it's super late, but can I crash on your couch tonight?" Emily was a night owl, she'd still be up.

Her phone buzzed immediately. "Sure Super Max. What's up?"

She didn't respond. She got home, packed her bag with some clothes, her computer, and her cameras. On her way out she tacked a message on the front door.

* * *

Somewhere along the line, Chloe had switched from weak beer to strong cocktails, and in retrospect, she thought maybe this was a poor choice. She wasn't entirely clear on how many she'd had or how, exactly, she'd met this girl (who had said her name but Chloe couldn't hear it over the thumping music). She was definitely not clear on how this girl had managed to back her up against a wall and lock lips with her, but she was not above enjoying the proceedings. _I wish Max were here,_ she thought, _I'd rather be kissing her._ She noticed a flash in the crowd, but didn't look up.

They continued like this for a while, everybody around ignoring them. Then the girl pulled away, put her mouth to Chloe's ear. "Want to get out of here? My place is just down the block. I'd love to make you breakfast."

Chloe recoiled from this and looked at the girl, waking up a bit. Go home with her instead of going home to Max? She didn't want that. She didn't want any of this. "No, sorry, I… need to get home. Alone. I shouldn't… I shouldn't be here." She turned and started pushing her way out of the party, and didn't look back.

Leaving the house, she checked her phone. Crap, she missed a text from Max. "Paper's as good as it's going to get, heading to the party to meet you." _What?_ She never saw Max at the party. She started to compose a response, but then she remembered the flash in the crowd, while she was into it with that girl. _Oh shit,_ she thought. She picked up the pace, jogging the rest of the way home. _Oh shit oh shit oh shit._ She got to the building, stormed up the stairs, stood in front of the door to their apartment.

There was an instant photo, tacked to the door at eye level. Of her. Making out with the girl who was definitely not Max. She fumbled with the keys, opened the lock. Stepped inside. Dark. "Max?!" She switched on the light. Nobody home. Breathing hard, she took stock. Everything looked normal. But there, Max's suitcase was gone. Her cameras. Some of her clothes. "Fuck!" she yelled, stumbling to the bed. She sat down and took out her phone. Called. No answer. Of course. Started sending texts.

"Max im so sorry"

"im super wasted i made a mistake it was dumb"

"plz call me so we can talk"

"and plz come home"

"i love you"

"please talk to me"

Nothing came back. It was two in the morning. She slumped over on the bed and passed out.

* * *

Max walked the short distance to Emily's place. Emily was gay as hell, buff, crew cut hair, and a serial hook-up artist. The polar opposite of Max and Chloe's steadfast monogamy, and they both made fun of each other for it. She was a good friend. How she afforded her own apartment this close to campus was anybody's guess, but Max was glad she had a place to crash without a bunch of roommates hanging around.

Emily opened the door to Max's knock, and she immediately stepped inside, her suitcase rolling behind her. Emily's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Holy shit Max, planning to stay a while? You look like hell. What is going on?"

Max looked up at Emily with tired, red eyes. "I caught Chloe making out with another girl at a party. I bailed."

Emily knit her brow. "She was kissing another girl and you… left her? What did she have to say?"

"I didn't talk to her."

"Wow, Max, that seems… a little extreme. If you don't mind my saying so."

Now Max fixed Emily with an angry stare. "She promised me it would always be just the two of us. Promised."

"OK, but, I mean… she's probably hammered, this kind of thing happens a lot. It's not necessarily a big deal."

"What happens a lot?! You've seen her do this before?!"

"No no, I mean to the rest of us. Mere mortals."

"Emily, when was the last time you were in a relationship for more than six months?"

"When was the last time I was in a relationship for more than six weeks? Fine, I know, you guys are different. But that just means walking out like this is an even bigger fucking deal."

"Kissing other girls behind my back is a big fucking deal! I can't just hang around and wait for her to come home after this, if she even does, OK?"

"Alright. This isn't my fight. She'll text me eventually. What do I tell her?"

"You haven't seen me."

Emily shook her head, sighed. "OK, you were never here."

Max turned to Emily's couch. "Thanks for letting me crash here. I'd better try to get some sleep."

"Don't have to sleep on the couch, you know."

"Really?!" Max snapped. "No, you won't be adding a notch to your belt tonight."

"That's not what I meant, Max. But whatever, take the couch if you want. I'll leave you alone."

Emily went into her bedroom, closed the door. Max collapsed on the couch and looked at her phone. Chloe would call when she got home, and Max doubted she'd be able to resist answering it. Chloe was her best friend, and what she wanted most of all right then was to talk to her best friend. So she turned it off, closed her eyes, and tried, unsuccessfully, to sleep.

* * *

Chloe awoke with a start. The clock by the bed read 10:42. For a split second, she felt OK. Then the headache kicked in, and the nausea. Then she realized she was alone, and then she remembered. _Oh no._ She scrambled up and ran into the bathroom, threw up into the toilet in long, painful, choking heaves. Gasping for air, she mocked herself bitterly. _Calling God on the big white phone! Could use an assist down here!_ After the retching subsided she sat on the floor a while, leaning against the wall. _This is a new low._ Once she thought she could stand, she got up, washed her face, brushed her teeth. Stumbled out of the bathroom, picked up her phone. Nothing. Tried to call Max again, got no answer. Texted again.

"Max, I am sorry"

"come home"

 _I have to find her, I have to explain,_ she thought. _Where are you Max?_ They mostly had the same friends. She started texting.

But nobody, it seemed, had seen Max. Or at least, nobody was willing to admit it. _She's staying with somebody, but they won't give her up. Fuck, this is bad._

She was too hung over for this. She crawled back into bed and closed her eyes. _What if she never comes home?_


	2. Chapter 2

Once the room stopped spinning around her, Chloe rolled out of bed and went into the little nook that passed as a kitchen in their tiny apartment. This sad little kitchen was the one thing that annoyed them both about the place. Chloe may not have had the patience for Max's more extravagant dinners, but the daughter of Joyce Price was no slouch when it came to breakfast. She started a pot of coffee, fried bacon, cooked eggs, made toast, chopped a handful of herbs. Dipped the toast in the bacon grease, sprinkled the herbs on the eggs. In fifteen minutes she had her best hangover-busting breakfast.

She ate at their little kitchen table, contemplating. _This fucking sucks. Dammit, Max, why couldn't you just kick my ass right there? Or better yet, kick that girl's ass? You promised you'd never leave me again! What the fuck do I do now?_ The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She may have fucked up, but who just leaves without a word like that?

Her phone buzzed, and her heart leapt. Max! She grabbed it eagerly, looked at the message. Not Max. One of their mutual friends, who she had texted earlier, searching.

"Did you find her? You guys fighting or what?"

Chloe replied, annoyed, "she busted me tongue wrestling with some chick, took off"

"OMG WTF were you thinking?"

"obv I was not thinking, dumbass"

"FFS Chlo. I'll msg you if I see her."

"thks"

There was nothing else she could do, at least not that day. She refilled her coffee cup, leaned back in her chair, and waited. She remembered Max had a shoot. _Maybe she'll come home after that._

* * *

Max was working for a local real estate agent, using a consumer DSLR to get better than average listing photos for properties he was about to sell. Taking digital photos of empty houses was boring and didn't pay much, but it was work she could get as a student without ten grand of equipment and an established "personal brand." She gritted her teeth and got through it, riding from house to house in the agent's big Mercedes, staring out the window, thinking of Chloe.

She felt sick, imagining her partner with someone else. Chloe had said she'd never leave, but that was before college. Before they'd been together for a few years, shared an apartment, learned every inch of each other. Everything had seemed to be going so well, but what if she was getting tired of Max, was already slipping away? And how dare she do this to her best friend? Max felt angry tears in here eyes, but was determined not to break down in front of her client. She blinked, fiddled with her camera.

When she was done, she was tempted just to go home and get the whole thing over with. She imagined how that might go, what she might say. Or yell, more likely. _Since I don't seem to be enough for you, maybe I should move out, give you some space to sow your wild oats! I can think of plenty of girls with crushes on you. Have fun, Chloe, but don't come crying to me when you get tired of them, because I'll be gone!_

 _No, I can't let that happen,_ she thought. Playing chicken with Chloe Price was never a good idea. _I need more time to cool off._ She realized she was afraid to go back, afraid of what might happen when she did. She didn't want to face it. So she spent the rest of the day in the back corner of a coffee shop, drinking pots of tea and munching unsatisfying pastries, sifting through the day's photos on her laptop, catching up on schoolwork, and brooding. When the place closed, she went back to Emily's apartment, curled up on the couch. _Another crappy night on this crappy couch._

* * *

The next morning, Max had class. She picked a seat in the middle of the big lecture hall, sat down. Expository Writing 102 was a major requirement, not her favorite class by a long shot. But, because there were so many students taking it, she could at least disappear in the crowd, and not have to pretend to be too interested. She watched the other students file in. One had blue hair. _Guess I should have seen this coming,_ Max thought. Chloe was in full angry punk mode, all black clothes, boots, spiked bracelet, bullet necklace, leather biker jacket. She scanned the room, found Max, walked to the seat next to her, and sat down. She looked at Max appraisingly, then turned toward the front of the room, her face neutral.

Part of Max wanted to hug Chloe right there and put and end to it. The other part of her was still too furious to speak, even more so because Chloe had ambushed her in class. She kept her hands to herself, stayed silent, did her best to pay attention to the lecture. When it was over, she walked out, ignoring Chloe, who followed her out of the hall.

Outside the building, Chloe caught up with her. "Max, you have to talk to me eventually. I'm… here to apologize."

Max whirled on her. "You really want to do this here, now?"

"Hey, easy there Maximus, I'm not the one who disappeared off the face of the earth. Again."

"Don't make this about me. You said it would always just be the two of us. You go out without me a lot. How many little adventures have you had, Chloe?"

"You think I go out and fuck around with other people all the time? This happened once, Max. I got way too drunk and I didn't know what I was doing. Once, and I'm sorry. She invited me back to her place, but I didn't go, I went home. OK?"

"If that is even true, why'd it happen at all? What are you not telling me?" Max gestured to herself, "What's missing here that you need to mess around with a random girl at a party instead?"

"Dude, nothing, alright? But you weren't there and she was."

"Oh, so I need to tag along with you everywhere in case you need someone to make out with _right away?_ I've gotta get to my next class. Don't follow me."

Chloe scowled at her, fuming. Max turned her back and strode off.

 _Oh no,_ she thought, _w_ _hat did I do?_

* * *

That evening, Max and Emily sat on the couch and shared a bottle of red wine over Chinese take-out. Max was still shaken by the argument on campus, and didn't have much of an appetite. Once they divvied up the food, Emily asked about Chloe. "So obviously you guys still haven't patched things up. What is going on?"

"I have no idea what to do! We've never really fought before, just stupid stuff like, why did you spend all the grocery money on Nutella and cookies?"

"Hah! She did that?"

Max pinched her index finger and thumb, put them to her lips, sucked air, aping the motion of taking a hit from a joint.

"Figures," said Emily.

"So today she came to one of my classes. It made me even more pissed off and I kind of blew up at her."

"Chloe Price extends an olive branch, and Max Caulfield loses her temper? Hell hath frozen over."

"I know. This isn't how I want this to go at all."

"And… how do you want it to go?"

"I want her to know that she really hurt me this time. I want to understand how she could do something like this. But I can't ever, ever lose her. I'm afraid I might." She choked up. "I'm afraid I might have lost her already."

"Max, seriously. I don't think that's true."

"Then why, Emily? Why would she do this?"

"Because she's a fuckup! I know you love her but sometimes she takes her eye off the ball, you know?"

Max stared at her friend skeptically.

Emily sighed. "Max, I want to show you something. But you need to trust me for a minute, OK?"

"Um… alright. I trust you."

Emily took a big swallow of wine, put her food on the coffee table and turned toward Max. She put one hand on Max's shoulder, and cradled the back of her head with the other. "What are-" Max started to object, but Emily leaned in close and kissed her, gently. Many things were wrong about this, but after two days of lonely hell, Max badly needed some comfort. For a couple of seconds, she found herself willingly kissing her friend. Then she turned her head, forced herself out of Emily's grasp.

"What the hell?" Max looked more confused than angry.

Emily sat back on the couch and shrugged. "Did I turn your world upside down?"

Max scowled. "Hardly. No offense, but I don't have a crush on you, Emily."

"So, not a big deal, I guess."

"It's not the same thing."

Emily shrugged again, resumed eating. "I don't know why you're so sure."

Max thought about it, sighed. "Maybe you were right, maybe I shouldn't have walked out."

"Damn straight I was right. You _should_ have gotten in her face then and there, all this probably would've been solved the same night. You'd be home getting it on with her right now instead of being stuck here with me."

A coarse way to put it but, Max reflected, very possibly true. "I guess it's time for me to talk to her."

She pulled out her phone, turned it on for the first time in days. It connected and a stream of texts arrived. There were two messages from friends who had probably been at the party.

"Everything OK with you guys? We should grab coffee."

"Hey Max, saw some crazy shit at the party last night. Call me."

That was comforting, she supposed. Then she read the texts from Chloe, and her heart broke. _I took this too far,_ she thought. She sent a message. "I'm sorry. Ready to talk. You around?"

It took a minute for the reply to come back. "yes. come home now, max"

Emily looked over Max's shoulder. "Thank God. Don't fuck this up, Max. She needs you. Don't tell her I kissed you though, she'll gut me like a fish if she finds out."

Max scraped her uneaten kung pao chicken back into its takeout box, stuffed her things into her bag and headed for home.

* * *

A few minutes later, she knocked on her own front door. She heard the ring of boots on the wood floor, and the door swung open. Chloe was still wearing her all-black punk ensemble, staring down at Max with her trademark scowl. She seemed to tower over her. Max was afraid of what Chloe would do, afraid everything could fall apart, right there. She pushed inside, sat down on the bed. Chloe closed the door, and remained standing by the door, arms crossed.

"Well?"

"Chloe… you promised. You really hurt me."

"I said what I have to say. We only kissed, I'm sorry, it was a mistake, it only happened once."

"But why, Chloe?"

"Because I'm not perfect, Max! Because I was drunk and I missed you and she got right up on me and knew how to push all my buttons, OK? I got fucking played! And I felt like shit and I came home and you were _gone!_ You promised never to bail on me again and that's exactly what you did. And then you accused me of messing around on you big-time, which is bullshit."

"I… never intended to really leave, I just needed time. I was afraid we'd fight… like this."

"Well you didn't fucking tell me that, did you? What do you think it's been like, wondering if you'd ever come back?"

"I guess I… didn't think."

"No, you didn't. I've been dying here for two days. Where the hell were you anyway?"

"I stayed with Emily."

"That bitch took you in and then lied to me about it? I should kick her fucking ass! I hope you slept on the couch, Max!"

"No, I mean, yes, I did sleep on the couch. Chloe… she spent the whole time telling me to come back to you. She said I overreacted and… she was right."

"And you should have listened! Do you even care at all?!" Chloe marched into the middle of the room, stood staring down at Max.

Max flinched away from her. "Chloe, please, this is _me_ you're talking to! You're scaring me!"

Chloe just stood a moment. Then, the anger slowly left her face, and she only looked tired. She looked down at herself. "Fuck. Yeah," she said, "too much fucking armor." Slowly, she took off her bracelet, dropped it on the floor. Then her necklace. Her jacket. One by one she took off every bit of clothing, even her underwear, dropped it all in a pile around her. She didn't pose, didn't strut, just stood there, completely naked, shoulders slumped, looking at Max forlornly. Not so tall without the boots, not so broad without the jacket. The tough punk was gone, and there was just Chloe, who didn't always make the best choices and missed her dead dad and wanted nothing more than for Max to love her.

"It's just that, for a minute there I thought I lost you for real. It hella freaked me out."

"No… Chloe, that's never going to happen. I will _always_ come back. I thought we'd be together forever, get married someday, and I thought you felt the same way. When I saw you with her…" The tears came on Max in a rush. "I thought you… I thought… we wouldn't…" And then she couldn't speak anymore, just dropped her head into her hands and wept.

Chloe instantly sat down next to Max, put her arms around her shoulders. "Max, no. I _do_ feel the same way, I just had a drunken fuckup, is all. Hell, we can go down to the courthouse tomorrow and get hitched, if you want."

Max inhaled sharply, then wiped her eyes. She put her arm around Chloe's bare hip. "Wowser. No, I'm not in a hurry. I just mean, someday when we've got life a little more figured out." She paused. "I'm sorry I walked out on you. I love you and that never changed for an instant."

"I'm sorry too. Are we… done with this now? It's… kind of cold in here."

"Yeah, I'm _so_ ready for this to be over. That was a terrible striptease, by the way."

"Didn't do anything for you?" Chloe grinned and wiggled her hips.

Max smiled. "I didn't say _that_."


	3. Bonus Epilogue

They sat at the little kitchen table, Chloe in a bathrobe, eating the cold kung pao chicken Max had brought home from Emily's.

"So," Chloe said, "is Emily a good kisser?"

Max's eyebrows shot up in alarm. "What?!"

"She texted me dude, said you guys made out." Chloe looked at Max mischievously, forked a piece of chicken into her mouth.

"She did?" Max said, amazed. "She told me not to tell you!"

At this, Chloe tipped her head back, covered her mouth with her hand, started laughing around her mouthful of chicken. "Oh, man, you totally fell for it! I can't believe you actually kissed her, she's not even that hot. You are _so_ busted."

Max looked stricken. "Damn it, Chloe, that is _not_ cool."

"No but it's funny as fuck. You should see your face."

Max looked down at her food. "I'm sorry Chloe, she kinda ambushed me, it was just for a second."

Chloe sat back in her chair, regarded her. "Chill, I think under the circumstances you can be forgiven. Plus she goes after everybody, pretty soon she'll have taken home every gay, bi, curious, or confused girl in town, she'll have to start over from the beginning. Or move."

"You're really not mad?"

"Nah. Just don't make a habit of it. So is she a good kisser or what?"

"Meh."

"How about in the sack?"

"Chloe I did NOT sleep with her!"

"Really, I have a text message here says otherwise."

"Oh my _God,_ grow up!"

"Never!" Chloe stuck out her tongue at Max. This time they both laughed.


End file.
